Strawberry and Lavender Sorbet

In early summer my garden is alive with aromatic lavender, I love flavouring sugar with lavender and making yummy lavender ice-cream by infusing it with custard. I, also, can't resist the early British Strawberries, which inundated us from late spring. So the idea came to me that the two flavours might work well together and after a little thought I came up with this delicious recipe.

While ice-creams and sorbets can be made without an ice-cream machine it is far the with one. If you wish to make it without a machine, freeze the mixture for 1 hour then stir it with a fork every 40-60 minutes for 3-4 hours to break up the crystals.

Portions: 1 litre of Sorbet

Preparation: 15 minutes plus cooling of syrup

Cooking: 5 minutes

Ingredients

Lavender Sugar Syrup

400g caster sugar

350ml water

5 lavender flowers

Sorbet

600g strawberries, hulled and roughly diced

400ml lavender sugar syrup

Method

Lavender Sugar Syrup: Place the sugar water and lavender in a saucepan over a moderate-low heat. Stir the mixture regularly until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the syrup to simmer gently for a couple of minutes then remove it from the heat and allow it to cool thoroughly. When the syrup has cooled it can be strained and used for your sorbet or refrigerate it in a sealed container for up to a month (strain the lavender from the syrup when ready to use).

Sorbet: Puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender until you have and pass through a fine sieve (optional), alternatively you can puree the strawberries through a mouli or mash well with a fork.

Return the puree the to the food processor or blender, with the lavender sugar syrup and process briefly so that they are well blended or mix them together in a large bowl.

Place the sorbet mixture into your ice-cream machine and churn according to your machines instructions.